Actor Donnie Yen on His Kung Fu Film, ‘Dragon’

Martial-arts actor Donnie Yen has been on a tear over the past few years, becoming one of the world’s busiest action stars and rivaling Jackie Chan and Jet Li for dominance in Asia.

Although his movie career spans 30 years, it wasn’t until 2008 that Yen catapulted to the top ranks of leading man with “Ip Man.” The film, based on the life of the 20th-century Chinese martial-arts master of the same name and whose students included a young Bruce Lee, was a runaway success and spawned a hit sequel two years later. Since then, the 49-year-old actor has starred in a string of high-profile movies, including 2010’s “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen,” taking on the same role that Bruce Lee played in “Fist of Fury.”

Yen’s latest film is “Dragon,” a cat-and-mouse martial-arts thriller in which he plays a man — Liu Jin-xi — living a seemingly simple life with his wife and two children in a remote village in early 20th-century China. After Liu — using masterful kung-fu moves –kills a pair of bandits trying to rob a local shopkeeper, a police detective investigating the case uncovers Liu’s true identity: a former member of a brutal criminal clan who’s now in hiding. (In Asia, the film was released under the title “Wu Xia,” which translates roughly as “martial-arts chivalry.”)

Director Peter Chan’s clever art-house spin on a popular genre pays homage to the stylish Hong Kong kung-fu movies of the 1960s and ’70s. “Dragon,” which opened in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 30 and is now available on iTunes, also stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (“Red Cliff”), Tang Wei (“Lust, Caution”) and legendary Shaw Brothers Studio martial-arts stars Jimmy Wang Yu and Kara Hui.

Speakeasy caught up with Yen, who talked about his role in “Dragon,” pulling dual duty as star and action choreographer, and working in Hollywood.

Edited excerpts:

The character you play in “Dragon” is more complex than your other recent roles: He’s a man seeking redemption from his murderous life but ultimately is forced to confront his past. Why did you take on the role?

I think every actor wants to try out different things. When audiences look at an action actor like myself, sometimes we are very easily stereotyped or characterized as one type. They forget that we are actors, too. We just make a lot of action movies. I was very fortunate — although I didn’t come from a classic background, I do have 30 years of experience making films. It’s just that marketing-wise, I’m always chosen to play these straight-up heroic roles.

How did you prepare for the film?

Like any other actor, I draw on life experience. I have always been a great fan of Peter Chan and many other great directors who specialize in anything outside of action. I watch any type of film, I do my homework, and I have a high appreciation of the acting art. Over the past few years, the majority of my films were big box-office successes in Asia … and then I was given an opportunity to take on different roles.

You also were the action choreographer for “Dragon.” How did you balance the responsibilities?

I’ve been juggling dual positions for a long time. I guess I’m used to that type of work load. As an actor — to play the character truthfully — you have to be as subjective as possible. But as a director, you have to be as objective as possible and try to look at it from every angle. I don’t get a lot of sleep at night because my brain is constantly thinking of every detail. I plan everything in my head for the next day and how to shoot it. But I’m also thinking: Am I taking this role in the right direction?

How did you approach the action scenes?

“Dragon” [which is set in a Chinese village at the end of the Qing Dynasty] created certain rules for me. The character wouldn’t look right if I had him doing mixed martial-arts or Brazilian jiu-jitsu or Thai boxing. [I thought] it would be a good mix if I put in these ’70s Shaw Brothers kung-fu movies. So I thought: Let me create that kind of action for this character. That’s how I create action scenes, I start off with the character and then it expands. I don’t have a storyboard. Everything is created in my head before I walk on the set, so when I’m on the set I know exactly what to shoot and how to shoot it.

How much preparation do you get for an action scene?

Preparation is not a luxury for Asian martial-arts films. I worked in Hollywood films [“Shanghai Knights” and “Blade II”] — there’s a lot of preparation. I support that, and I wish we could do a little bit more of that in Asia. But that is not our industry’s practice. There’s a lot of focus of putting everything together and saying “Let’s shoot it.”

How is working in Hollywood compared with Hong Kong and China?

We are a lot more sophisticated nowadays, but compared to Hollywood, where we have two months of preparation and rehearsal — we don’t have rehearsals [in Asia]. It’s purely my experience and the experience of my crew, my stunt team. I try to give my guys as much time as possible [when it comes to] safety and protection. But as far as creativity goes, we create while we are there.

You’ll be 50 next year. How much longer do you plan to perform in martial-arts movies?

Obviously, I’ve had a lot injuries — not from just accidents but from years of wear and tear on my body. I still feel very good about my performances — I’m still fast and strong. Maybe I have a good lifestyle balance. I don’t have a night life, I don’t really drink, I don’t smoke, no drugs — a very clean family life.

Mentally, I feel more inspired and motivated than ever. I don’t know what it is. Sometimes it’s not just pure physical energy. I think it’s also the mind. But, of course, I’ve got to give myself a deadline. I don’t plan to do this all my life. I want to do other things.

Such as?

I’ll probably produce my own films, and I’ll want to scout some new talent. But for now I’ve got to finish up seven more movies … then I’ll think about what I’m going to do — whether I’m going to be in front of the camera or go back behind the camera and be a producer before I retire.